Jon W , About your pat. toro timer

Brian Carpenter

does that have BSII technology in it an can it be hacked?· I have just planted my winter lawn in Arizona and need a timer that will turn on every other hour to keep the grass seed wet.· Doable?

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It's Only A Stupid Question If You Have Not Googled It First!!

Jon Williams

The sprinkler timer you're referring to, the Toro ECX, does not in fact use a BS2 -- it uses a very small (4-bit) micro that is designed for those kinds of applications (has a built-in LCD driver).

You could easily construct a timer per your requirements using a BS2; I'd be inclined to use an RTC as well so that you're only watering when you actually want to and for the correct amount of time. I'm not saying that this is something you can "hack out" in 10 minutes, but given a little thought you could do it in a day or so.

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Jon Williams
Applications Engineer, Parallax

Brian Carpenter

very impressive little ECX though. I own it and it is a dream to program with the USB KEY

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It's Only A Stupid Question If You Have Not Googled It First!!

Jon Williams

To be clear, I was the creator of the *original* ECX -- it has probably been updated by my successors during the last 10 years. Chances are the latest version, especially if it has a USB connection, has much more than the 4-bit Hitachi micro we used in the original version (we had a very tough $20 target fro Home Depot -- it had to be very inexpensive to build).

Edit: I see the price has gone up -- this is the 2nd generation of the product I created (with a great team): http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US/jsearch/product.jsp?pn=162309

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Jon Williams
Applications Engineer, Parallax

LoopyByteloose

If you want to keep a newly seeded lawn damp, spread an even dusting of peat moss over the top.
It will buffer your watering needs. Don't use saw dust as it leeches much needed nitrogen as it decays.

A well placed soaker hose face down often is more gentle and keeps the seed in place. Too much water and the seed floats away in spots.

The easiest solution is to have a spare bag of the same seed [noparse][[/noparse]lawn seed comes in flavors and mixes]. Take the spare seed and mix it with peat moss to spread on bare spots and misses. Do the spreading by hand and double your coverage from two perpendicular directions.

Keep a bag of spare seed in an extremely dry storage [noparse][[/noparse]maybe in a bottom corner of a freezer, double bagged]. When you have occasion to re-seed, you may not be able to buy the same mix.

Is this electronics? OOOps.

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"When all think alike, no one is thinking very much.' - Walter Lippmann (1889-1974)

······································································ Warm regards,····· G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse]·黃鶴 ]·in Taiwan

Brian Carpenter

thanks for the info Kramer

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It's Only A Stupid Question If You Have Not Googled It First!!

deno

Hay is cheaper then peat moss, and will keep the ground damp and out of the sun until the· seed sprouts...just go out and buy a couple of bails of hay...

Deno

LoopyByteloose

Deno,

Unless that is rotten hay bales [noparse][[/noparse]the old stuff], you have dormant·seed in it.· Depending on the kind of hay, you might end up unintentionally growing alfalfa, clover, or· whatever.

You can use decayed sawdust too. Leaf mulch is nice.· Composted lawn clippings....· Just be sure you are not adding unwanted seed or removing nutrient.

The advantage with peat moss is that you don't have to be choosey.

Just using autumn leaves will kill off a lawn as they stick together and create a substantial barrier for the sprouts to break through.· They need to be decayed.

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"When all think alike, no one is thinking very much.' - Walter Lippmann (1889-1974)

······································································ Warm regards,····· G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse]·黃鶴 ]·in Taiwan